Halos have “Noe” luck in 11-inning loss

ALBERT PUJOLS homered and drove in three runs in the Angels’ 8-7 11-inning loss to the Texas Rangers Monday night. He also stole a base (Flickr/Keith Allison).

A six-run lead wasn’t enough for the Los Angeles Angels Monday night as they lost 8-7 to the Texas Rangers in 11 innings in Arlington.

The loss dropped the Halos into a tie with the Rangers for third place in the American League West. The Angels are now 62-65 and the Rangers 61-64, both with .488 winning percentages.

A five-run first inning started the Orange County team off well.  Justin Upton and Kole Calhoun singled in runs and Albert Pujols brought both of them in with his 19th homer of the year.

The Halos added two more runs in the second for a 7-1 edge, but that was it for the Angels in scoring. The Rangers got one run in the fourth, three in the fifth and tied it all up at 7-all in the eighth on RBI singles by Hunter Pence and Roughned Odor.

In the bottom of the 11th, the home team scored the winning run when Isiah Kiner-Falefa drove in Jose Trevino with an infield single. Falefa hit a high chopper that was fielded by pitcher Noe Ramirez (now 4-2), who threw wildly to and past Pujols at first.

The Angels will seek to break the third place tie on Tuesday when they again play the Rangers. Jaime Barria (4-6) will get the start in a game that is a makeup of a contest originally scheduled for July 1.